- The United States, Iran and Oman are reportedly close to a 60-day provisional agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz: inbound traffic would follow the northern lane through Iranian waters, outbound traffic the southern lane through Omani waters, with no tolls and with mines removed from the central lane within 30 days.
- On the Omani route, so far regarded as the safest, the bulk carrier Minoan Pioneer was hit by an unidentified projectile 20 miles north-east of Al Khasab: the engine room was struck, causing a total blackout, a fire in the accommodation block and leaving the third engineer missing. It is the fourth incident in five days.
- In the Red Sea, the picture is moving in the opposite direction: the Houthis have claimed an attack on the Saudi tanker Wafa off Yanbu, the eighth vessel targeted since the start of the blockade on 22 July. There has been no independent confirmation, while Brent has fallen below $80 as markets price in the Hormuz agreement.
As negotiators were finalising the last details of the agreement expected to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a cargo vessel transiting the route regarded as the safest was hit in the engine room. At 22:00 UTC on 3 August 2026, 02:00 local time on 4 August, the Liberian-flagged bulk carrier Minoan Pioneer, managed by Greece’s Modion Maritime Management, reported on VHF channel 16 that it had been struck by an unidentified projectile about 20 nautical miles north-east of Al Khasab, in Omani waters. The strike caused a total blackout and shortly afterwards a fire broke out in the accommodation block. The crew abandoned ship in a lifeboat after trying to contain the flames, and the third engineer is missing.
The alert was issued by UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations), the Royal Navy body that coordinates security information for merchant shipping in the area, while British maritime risk analysis firm Vanguard Tech identified the vessel and provided details on the crew. The initial distress call was relayed by the Panama-flagged tanker Surianame Prosperity, which reported the bulk carrier’s complete loss of power. Modion Maritime Management did not respond to requests for comment. Built in 2011 by Jiangsu New Yangzijiang under the name Bottiglieri Sophie Green, Minoan Pioneer is a post-panamax vessel of 93,283 dwt and 51,255 gt, 229 metres long, sailing from São Francisco do Sul with a call at Sohar and bound for Fujairah. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.
This is the fourth maritime security incident reported in five days near the Musandam peninsula: on Friday 31 July, an LNG carrier was hit in the engine room while sailing east, causing a fire and loss of propulsion; the crew was unharmed and the vessel received assistance from the Omani Coast Guard. A tanker later reported a nearby explosion, and on Sunday 2 August another master heard a detonation nearby, with no damage. Vanguard Tech and Marisks have recorded three tankers involved in separate incidents between 31 July and 2 August, all in Omani waters. The southern route, which shipping companies have favoured in recent months precisely because it bypasses Iranian territorial waters, has therefore proved as dangerous as the others.
This is the backdrop to the negotiations. According to Axios, citing two regional sources and a US official, the United States, Iran and Oman are close to a provisional agreement and Washington is aiming to announce it as early as Wednesday 5 August. The mechanism would last 60 days, with the possibility of extension: all inbound traffic towards the Gulf would transit a northern lane through Iranian waters, while all outbound traffic towards the Arabian Sea would use a southern lane in Omani waters and in coordination with Iran. No tolls or fees would be applied during the 60-day period. In addition, the parties would work together to remove mines from the strait’s central lane within 30 days; once cleared, it would be used for two-way traffic under a future permanent agreement between Muscat and Tehran.
The most politically significant issue remains control of the strait. The preliminary agreement would incorporate some Iranian demands over traffic management rights in the strait that Tehran did not have before the war, creating a safe corridor that recognises Iran’s interests as a coastal state. Compared with drafts circulated in previous weeks, when bilateral Iran-Oman negotiations envisaged a "service fee" to be split equally between the two countries, a formula chosen to avoid irritating Washington, the current version postpones the economic issue until after the provisional phase.
Trump accompanied the diplomatic opening with another warning. "We are having excellent talks," he said in an interview with Fox News, anticipating developments within 48 hours and adding that the strait "will open very soon, otherwise they will take a very hard hit". On 1 August the US president cancelled a planned attack on Iranian infrastructure, and Central Command has recorded no US operations against Iran since 29 July. Tehran’s response remains cautious: Behnam Saidi, secretary of the parliamentary National Security Committee, argued that the United States and Israel had violated several clauses of the ceasefire and that any US proposal should be received with scepticism. Iranian sources blame Washington for slowing the agreement, accusing the White House of seeking to capitalise politically on an outcome negotiated with Oman.
A thousand kilometres further west, the situation is moving in the opposite direction. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree claimed in a video message that the Saudi tanker Wafa had been attacked with "several ballistic missiles" in the northern Red Sea, off the coast of Yanbu, which would make it the eighth vessel targeted since the maritime blockade began on 22 July. The blockade was declared in retaliation for the 13 July attack on Sanaa airport, attributed to Riyadh. No independent source has so far confirmed the incident: when the claim was released, neither UKMTO (United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations) nor Saudi Arabia’s Transport General Authority had issued any communication on Wafa, and no maritime tracker has verified the figure of 29 vessels that the Yemeni group says it forced to turn back.
The precedent calls for caution. Of the eight vessels claimed since 22 July, only the attack on Encelia has received external confirmation, with the Saudi Press Agency reporting a fire at the bow and no injuries. Layla, which the Houthis said was hit on the same day, had stopped transmitting its position before the alleged attack and has not reappeared on trackers, making any verification impossible, while on 29 July the group claimed the tanker NCC Ghazal had been forced to turn back after ignoring warnings.
The choice of target is not accidental. Yanbu is the terminal at the western end of Aramco’s East-West pipeline, the infrastructure through which Riyadh has diverted much of its crude exports precisely to bypass the risks around Hormuz, and capacity in use has risen to about seven million barrels per day, compared with one million before the war. The United Arab Emirates has followed the same logic with the Habshan-Fujairah pipeline. But oil loaded at Yanbu must then leave the Red Sea through Bab el-Mandeb, exposed to Houthi drones and missiles, or head north through the Suez Canal. To understand the Houthis’ range, it is worth recalling that on 29 July a drone hit a tanker at Damietta, 50 kilometres as the crow flies from the canal’s Mediterranean outlet.
Antonio Illariuzzi
